Watching the BBC interview of Adele by Graham Norton tonight and Adele sang one of the new tracks off her forthcoming album. The track was called A Million Years Ago. Listening to it reminded me of a different song by someone else. You know where you almost recognise a tune but get lost with the words, yet it's the words which are the key!

Eventually it came to me, El Shaddai by Michael Card, famously sung by Amy Grant. It's a song that I occasionally play during worship.

Seems that every Saturday when I take Charlie for a walk we stop and look at the sheep, and St Michael's Abbey at Farnborough. Well I say 'we' but I really mean me. Charlie is far too busy rooting round in the undergrowth for something to eat.

Met a man who was working on the boundary fence from the inside. He was repairing a 'doorway' that had been cut in the mesh fence. Was probably going to be used to enable something of a reasonable size to be pilfered from somewhere in the monastery grounds, or even a sheep.

Pray for the monastery, Abbey, those who have their vocation there and those who labour in support. And also pray for those who vandalise and steal from this wonderful place.

The guided tours they do on a Friday are worth it as well and is also an opportunity for them to be supported.

Couple of years ago a brother of mine gave me a CD that he'd won in a raffle. The music wasn't really to his African taste. I think I listened to it partially and then unfortunately forgot about it.

Fast forward to recently and I was browsing through theDove's TV channel and came across a wonderful worship song by Phatfish called There Is A Day. Such a wonderful song I decided that I'd see about purchasing it or at least the album that it was on.

Searching through XBox Music I did find it on a compilation album and then remembered that somewhere I had got a Phatfish CD. Digging out the CD called Heavenbound what is the last track on the album? Yup, There Is A Day!

Sometimes scripture leaps out of the pages of the Bible and just slaps you round the chops! You read something, often something you've read many times before and fresh revelation comes from the words.

Take 1 Timothy, one of Paul's pastoral letters. We often look at it and see a set of conditions that leaders within the church must adhere to and work towards. But at the end there's a phrase which has really touched me. It's in verses 14-15.

14 I am writing these things to you now, even though I hope to be with you soon, 15 so that if I am delayed, you will know how people must conduct themselves in the household of God. This is the church of the living God, which is the pillar and foundation of the truth.

See it there? The phrase 'the church of the living God'.

What do we take from that phrase squirreled away in the text? For me it says that the church has to be seen as the church of the living God.

Not just a Baptist Church

Not just a Roman Catholic Church

Not just a Methodist Church

Not just an Anglican Church

Not just the Redeemed Christian Church of God

Not just the Southern Baptist Assembly

But the Church of the Living God

To be the church of the living God then people must see the evidence of a living God, not a dead God. People must see and must walk in the power of the Holy Spirit. We should be seeing salvation, repentance, healings, miracles. We should be seeing the love of God manifest as love for God and love for our neighbours. We should be seeing compassion, holiness, a people growing in maturity and seeking solid food.